Common English Idioms Inspired by Summer

Hello and welcome to your Confident English Wednesday lesson. This week we

are focused on eight idioms inspired by the summer. For most of us, when we think

of the summer months, we think of time off of school for kids, we think of going

to the beach or the pool and relaxing in the sun, we think of really warm weather

(some of us really love that). We think of sun. And for many of us, things at work

slow down because so many people are on vacation or it's just so warm, it's so

hot we don't have as much energy or focus as usual. So these are the concepts

that ideas that we're going to think about using different idioms in English

so that you can use these and understand them naturally in any conversation. Or if

you hear them on a TV show or radio program. So let's get started thinking

about these eight different idioms that you can start using an English that are

inspired by our summer months. Our first idiom is head in the clouds. So the

classic picture of this is someone truly with their head in the clouds. And we use

this to talk about someone who is not focused or paying attention because they

are too busy daydreaming or thinking about other things in their own mind. So

if we imagine a child at school who is maybe thinking about recess or the time

that they can go outside and they're imagining all of these fun things that

they're going to do - maybe during summer vacation - and the teacher asks the child

to answer a question. And the child thinks, "Oh my gosh, what's happening? I don't know

what she asked me. I was too busy with my head in the clouds." I was too busy

daydreaming about something else. Soak up some sun. This is what a lot of us love

to do in the summer time. To soak up some sun means to sit outside in the sunlight

and enjoy the feeling of the sun on your skin. Many people love to go to the beach

to soak up some sun and get a summer tan. To have a green thumb.

If you have a green thumb then it means that you have a natural talent or

ability for growing plants and vegetables. So perhaps you love to garden,

maybe you have a vegetable garden during the summer months or you keep plants in

your home or you have flowers, a flower garden, and you have the natural skill to

help keep those plants alive and vibrant and very green. We've talked about having

a green thumb and having a flower garden so of course in any flower garden during

the summer we often see butterflies. A social butterfly is someone who loves

the company of other people. They love to be around other people and talking to

other people. So a social butterfly is someone you might see at a party who is

having a great time talking to everyone. They move easily around the room from

person to person, having conversations and they thrive, they get a lot of energy,

from those kinds of situations. A social butterfly is also someone who is always

doing something social. Maybe every night of the week they're going to a party or

a dinner or an event or a networking function. They're always finding a way to

be social with other people. The dog days. Many of you - like me - might be in the dog

days of summer. The dog days usually refers to days that are really hot. So if

we talk about the dog days of summer, we're talking about the days of summer

that are the hottest period of the summer. These are the days when you don't

want to do anything. It's too hot to be outside. You want to be at the pool or

the beach or just sitting somewhere cool inside. A summer fling. So I'm curious if

you can remember your first summer fling? A summer fling is a short summer romance.

It is a romance that is not supposed to be serious. It is

not supposed to be a long dating relationship. It is something that is

just for fun during the summer. We usually use it to talk about adolescents

or teenagers that have that first experience of having a crush on someone,

being in love with someone, and it's just for those summer months, maybe at summer

camp or during the summer holiday break from school. Thrown off the deep end. So

this one really reminds us a little bit of going to the pool. At a pool you

usually have two sides- one that is shallow and is better for children or

people who are not very tall and then the deep end where the water is really

deep and you have to know how to swim. If someone throws you into the deep end and

you don't know how to swim it can be very scary. So this idiomatic expression

we often use for work situations. To throw someone into the deep end or if

you were thrown into the deep end it means that you were asked to do

something at work that was difficult or challenging with very little preparation

or help from anyone. So, for example, we could use this in a situation if you

start a new job and there is no one available to help train you for your new

position or talk about all of the things you need to know for your job and you

are just expected to start on day one. Maybe you even have to present

information at a meeting that first week, then you can say you've been thrown into

the deep end at your new job because you had no one to help you prepare or help

you train for that new position. To be full of hot air is our last idiom for today's

lesson. So of course we've talked about the dog days of summer those were the

days when it's so hot that you can't focus or think maybe. And someone who is

full of hot air is someone who is full of nonsense. You cannot believe anything

that they say. They have no facts, no real information, they're just talking about

things that are complete nonsense. As you'll see in the example

below, I think it's true of almost every country in the world when we talk

sometimes about politicians, if we feel that we can't trust a politician or

everything they say is unbelievable, we might say that the politician is full of

hot air. They have nothing to say that makes sense. Now it's your turn to

practice using all of these different idiomatic expressions. And of course you

can do that by going to the bottom of the lesson. So you can watch this video

again to make sure that you really understand these idiomatic expressions

or you can look at the examples that I've provided just below this video. As

I've said many times, the best way for you to really learn and remember any new

vocabulary - whether its vocabulary words, phrasal verbs, or idioms - the best way to

do that is to really understand the meaning in context and then to create an

example using a situation from your own life. It makes the language real to your

life and that is the best way to learn and remember it. So review the rest of

the lesson and then choose two or three of your favorite idioms to create examples

from your real life and share them in the comments section at the bottom of

the lesson. As always, I will read your examples and provide feedback. Thank you

so much for joining me. I love having you here every

Wednesday and I will see you

next week. If you enjoyed this lesson, please don't be afraid to share with

your friends or your colleagues on Facebook. You can do that by just

clicking those buttons at the bottom of the lesson. Have a great week and I'll

see you next Wednesday.